A year after Seal Beach shootings, Salon Meritage reopens

Nov. 18, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Sandi Fannin, at left, former owner of Salon Meritage and current owner Irma Acosta with her son Steven Arjonilla, release butterflies during the reopening ceremony of Salon Meritage. Fannin's husband Randy was one of eight people killed in Orange County's worst mass slaying last year in Seal Beach. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Former Salon Meritage owner Sandi Fannin, in white, embraces Gordon Gallego, at a reopening of the store Sunday. Gallego, a hair stylist who survived last year's attack that killed eight people, survived by hiding in a bathroom. He was at the bittersweet reopening ceremony but will not return to work there. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Sandi Fannin, at left, former owner of Salon Meritage, and current owner Irma Acosta, walk together inside the salon during the reopening ceremony Sunday. Everything was changed, they said of the site of Orange County's worst mass slaying. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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People line up to enter the newly-remodeled Salon Meritage, site of Orange County's worst mass slaying. Everything was changed and designed with the murder victims' in mind, said new owner Irma Acosta. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Sandi Fannin, at left, former owner of Salon Meritage, holds hands with current owner Irma Acosta while talking to the press inside the salon during a reopening ceremony. Everything was changed inside, they said of the site of Orange County's worst mass slaying. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Sandi Fannin, at center, former owner of Salon Meritage, watches teary-eyed as a butterfly flutters away during a reopening ceremony Sunday. Current owner Irma Acosta watches at right. Fannin's husband Randy was one of eight people killed in Orange County's worst mass slaying last year. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Sandi Fannin, at left, former owner of Salon Meritage, holds hands with current owner Irma Acosta while talking to the press about reopening the salon. They said everything was changed inside the site of Orange County's worst mass slaying. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Mya Wilson, two-and-a-half, attends the reopening ceremony of Salon Meritage, the site of Orange County's worst mass slaying in Seal Beach Sunday. Her mom Veronica is friends with the former owner.. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A newly-planted flower blooms in front of Salon Meritage, the site of Orange County's worst mass slaying, The business reopened Sunday after having been closed more than a year. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Sandi Fannin, at left, former owner of Salon Meritage and current owner Irma Acosta with her son Steven Arjonilla, release butterflies during the reopening ceremony of Salon Meritage. Fannin's husband Randy was one of eight people killed in Orange County's worst mass slaying last year in Seal Beach. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Irma Acosta, who worked for 14 years at the salon, bought it from Fannin.

The day of the shooting, Acosta had just stepped out to get a smoothie when a gunman walked in and shot nine people, sending some stylists and customers into hiding, others running for safety in neighboring businesses. One shooting victim survived. The former husband of one of the stylists is accused in the shooting and awaits trial.

Acosta and Fannin held hands as they answered questions from TV news crews. Of the tight-knit staff, Acosta said: "All we wanted was to stay together as a team, as a family."

The salon "family" got much more than that, Acosta said. It got the support and encouragement of customers and friends and the community, which "gave us the strength to continue," she said.

Even City Hall chipped in by waiving building and plan check fees, expediting the review of plans and giving building inspections priority, city officials say.

Last spring, the place was gutted and leaders of the Center for Spiritual Living across the street blessed it.

Doors were moved. Windows replaced.

"We didn't want anything to be the same," Fannin said.

Sunday's open house marked another milestone for those affected by the shooting, said Don Shoemaker, senior chaplain with the Seal Beach Police Department.

To Gordon Gallego, a stylist who survived the shooting and is working elsewhere on Main Street, the reopening was "a little surreal." He and Fannin embraced long and hard Sunday in a tearful reunion. Soon, another stylist joined them. And another.

For the stylists and their longtime customers, it was a bittersweet afternoon.

"I'm excited and sad all at the same time, but it's a new beginning," said Lorraine Wilson, a Bellflower resident who for 27 years was Randy Fannin's customer. On Tuesday, she will be back, with an appointment with Sandi Fannin.

Jane Licon drove in from Temecula, where Sandi Fannin also has a home, in support of her best friend.

"It was hard to be in there, but it's gorgeous. They did a beautiful job," Licon said.

Cynthia Pastor, a Long Beach designer who worked for free on the remodel, said the modern gray and silver decor creates a "feel of beauty and rebirth and renewal."

Rossmoor resident Suzi Good, Randy Fannin's customer for 25 years, came in with a platter of cookies and exclaimed: "This is gorgeous. Look at this. This is a labor of love."

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